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The reality of it is that DISH does not have the space to give us all of that now ... and I do not know when they will have enough space to do half of the channels listed above, let alone all of them.

The RSNs would not be impossible as the "part time" channels already consume 24 channel slots ... add a few more channels to cover the alt channels and we could have 24/7 RSNs. At least of the RSNs we have now in 24/7 SD. But RSNs are expensive (especially in satellite space) and some of the other channels on the list might be more popular than the RSNs.

James - maybe you can give some insight to this, but on 129, why is transponder 21 QPSK? I see a total of 5 SD channels there, and they aren't mainstream SD Channels (Pentagon Channel, Classic Arts Showcase, 3 Angels Broadcasting, 129 test channel, and business TV) I would think it would make a lot of sense to distribute those 5 SD channels across the 28 other QPSK transponders on 110/119, then make transponder 21 on 129 an 8PSK transponder for HD. That OTA data would make sense to be on spotbeam for Columbus. Does the EPG data take up a lot of space because I would think that could be moved elsewhere.

James - maybe you can give some insight to this, but on 129, why is transponder 21 QPSK? I see a total of 5 SD channels there, and they aren't mainstream SD Channels (Pentagon Channel, Classic Arts Showcase, 3 Angels Broadcasting, 129 test channel, and business TV) I would think it would make a lot of sense to distribute those 5 SD channels across the 28 other QPSK transponders on 110/119, then make transponder 21 on 129 an 8PSK transponder for HD.

DISH is required by law to offer space to "public interest" channels. These channels pay a base fee for carriage (the cost of retransmitting their signal). The rules require PI channels at each orbital location - so those channels cannot be shuffled off to other satellites. (I suspect they could be transmitted in MPEG4 and put on a HD transponder on 129. 72.7 has no QPSK transponders and still has the required PI channels. And 77 has DISH Latino channels and no PIs - so there may be a way around the rule.)

The 3xxxx DNL and EPG channels would have to be moved elsewhere as well. Perhaps by the time the shuffling ended they would not be able to free up the transponder?

That OTA data would make sense to be on spotbeam for Columbus. Does the EPG data take up a lot of space because I would think that could be moved elsewhere.

The OTA channels themselves take up zero space on the transponder. They could be assigned anywhere since there is no video or audio for those channels and the data those channels represent is not transmitted as part of the "channel" shown. The OTA channel data consumes space in the EPG feed, which happens to be on 129 TP 21, but the channels 14000-15402 are not where the data is carried ... it is carried in the main EPG feeds.

DISH is required by law to offer space to "public interest" channels. These channels pay a base fee for carriage (the cost of retransmitting their signal). The rules require PI channels at each orbital location - so those channels cannot be shuffled off to other satellites. (I suspect they could be transmitted in MPEG4 and put on a HD transponder on 129. 72.7 has no QPSK transponders and still has the required PI channels. And 77 has DISH Latino channels and no PIs - so there may be a way around the rule.)

The reality of it is that DISH does not have the space to give us all of that now ... and I do not know when they will have enough space to do half of the channels listed above, let alone all of them.

The RSNs would not be impossible as the "part time" channels already consume 24 channel slots ... add a few more channels to cover the alt channels and we could have 24/7 RSNs. At least of the RSNs we have now in 24/7 SD. But RSNs are expensive (especially in satellite space) and some of the other channels on the list might be more popular than the RSNs.

I'd like to see all of the Encore channels, TVLAND, Sundance, QVC in HD.

I would figure, if I was a Dish Network customer, that it's high time Charlie Ergen and company got a new contractual agreement to fulfill carriage of ABC/Disney programming of the screens of ESPN in HD. For the children, the likes of Disney HD, Disney XD HD, and with them Disney Junior HD, should also be made available.

As for the lists of linear HD, Dish Network has DirecTV beat with the likes of The Hub HD and Oprah Winfrey Network HD, from Discovery Communications; We TV HD and Fuse HD, from AMC Networks; RFD-TV HD and Bloomberg Television HD; Style Network HD and TV One HD, as well as G4 (period) in high def, from Comcast/NBC Universal. DirecTV has Dish Network beat with the likes of the national east-coast feed of Ion Television HD; Disney Junior (period) in high def, from ABC/Disney; as well as TV Land HD, from Viacom.

This isn't to compare Dish Network vs. DirecTV. (I realize it may seem that way. But I wasn't going to cite every programmer.) I figure this to be a guide on how to go about anticipating what may come in.

On the DirecTV side, I figure Dish Network's carriage of The Hub HD, to name one, might make a good possibility to get added later in 2013. On the Dish Network side, I would figure that TV Land HD, also to name just one, would be a good bet in what may feasibly come in at some point in 2013.